My friend and DBMA representative in Mexico City, Mexico is coming to this his second Gathering. Making the trip is a real stretch for him financially. Is there someone who can put him on a sofa/floor/gym mat etc? He arrives Thursday. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My friend and DBMA representative in Mexico City, Mexico is coming to this his second Gathering. Making the trip is a real stretch for him financially. Is there someone who can put him on a sofa/floor/gym mat etc? He arrives Thursday. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I read this earlier and have been trying to come up with a way to help. As you know, my home is a 3 hr drive away. I am more than happy to bring my air mattress and loan a sleeping bag and or tent if it will help. I have the camper shell on my truck but I may need it myself if too broken to drive home that night.

Wishing there was more I could do. I am open to suggestions and can loan supplies if it helps.

If there is a place to pitch the tent, Id even be willing to sleep over in my camper next to the tent for Sunday night.

This is what I have lined up so far... I must be honest, I would like to open myself up to a fight or two with the unknown. I'll bring my wepon(s) of choice and you bring yours. IE. I step onto the mat with my single stick and hidden knife and meet my opponent with whatever he/she wants to bring onto the mat. No preset "Duel".

I want to thank Crafty and all the Dog Brothers for making an event like this possible. Also, thanks to Howie and Ryan -- the newbies fighting newbies; none of us knew quite what to expect, and it was nice that we could figure it out with each other. I also appreciate the other Ryan asking me for the left-handed fight: it was good to get one more in, but I wouldn't have had the nerve to ask anyone more experienced. The whole event had a great feeling of mutual benefit, and that made it easy to move past the nerves and dive in. Altogether, a great experience for me. Thanks again.

I had a great experience. I would like to thank Guro Crafty for coming up to me, making me feel welcome and telling me the Dog Brothers parable. I want to thank Kyle, Chhi med and John for great fights. I couldn't believe the comradery and good spirits between the fighters. I look forward to coming to both Gatherings next year and look forward to a fight w/Kaju Dog. Thank you so much for this event.

Big thanks to Guro Crafty for the Gathering. A big thanks and howl the NoHo krew... my teacher Pappy Dog.

Peter - thanks for the single stick fight. next time I'll be more aware of my OWN KNIFE! doh'

Linda - thanks for the right glove.

Mauricio - Thanks the knife fight and the single stick fight. You first hit me on my left wrist. I instantly pulled it back but quickly thought to myself "can't let him know he hurt me" and returned my wrist to its normal position. You then hit my right wrist even harder! I never felt that particular pain. I grunted (or maybe yelled in pain lol) and like a dope stared at my wrist. It wasn't until you yelled with your stick up in the air and Crafty paused the fight momentarily to ask me " are you okay? do you want to continue?" i said "yes" and we began to fight. Then you hit me on my head, my left knee buckled, and i wobbled. In my heart i wanted to fight but my body was done. Crafty had to come over, he stopped the fight... pulled me aside and said " your done... no more fights for you today buddy..." - awesome

Thanks for the humbling experience. I have a whole lot more training to do.

-BrianA

Guro Crafty - I have pictures from my friends camera. Unfortunately the camera was on the wrong setting and needless to say i have a whole lot of blurry fighters. There are some that are salvageable tho' . I'll see what i can do on photoshop. it will take me awhile but I'll email them to you as soon as I get them done.

I had a great experience. I would like to thank Guro Crafty for coming up to me, making me feel welcome and telling me the Dog Brothers parable. I want to thank Kyle, Chhi med and John for great fights. I couldn't believe the comradery and good spirits between the fighters. I look forward to coming to both Gatherings next year and look forward to a fight w/Kaju Dog. Thank you so much for this event.

RyanA

The feeling is mutual Ryan. Thanks for the great fight, and I hope we run into each other again!

Thanks Kaju for the Double Stick fight! They always get my heart pumping.

And if you could Crafty, please pass my best wishes along to Mauricio.

I will be decompressing and trying to put everything I learned into play for the rest of my life no doubt.

Jon

Logged

When life gives you lemons make lemonadeWhen life gives you hemlock, do NOT make hemlockade!

Guro, thanks for allowing us to train with you Saturday and putting on the Gathering of the Pack!

Thanks to the North Hollywood gang for allowing us to train with you and helping us out with polishing up some techniques!

Rene and Howie, thanks for the laughs, almost getting us into a fight (NOT AT THE GATHERING) within the first 60 minutes of being in the state of California and for being so hospitable!

Tennessee Dog, thanks for the fight! I'll be honest, my goal was not to turn down a fight regardless of who asked me as long as I was healthy. I don't think I would have had the balls to ask you myself so I thank you for helping me jump into the deep end!

Kaju Dog, thanks for agreeing on doing a left handed fight. I felt like a newbie again in stick range and it was invigorating!

"Bitch" Linda, you do a great job at killing skinny lanky guys! Thanks for the fight!

Chhi’med, you were my "unknown" fight that I promised myself I'd have. I had no clue what I was getting into and man was I impressed. I felt like I was hitting a brick wall each time we entered clinch and your left handed stick power was as imposing as your right! Thanks for agreeing to fight me left handed!

Lastly, thank you to my friends and fellow training partners "Dog" Mike and Jon. The two of you are huge inspirations to me.

Even though I don't fight any more, for me too there is still the post-Gathering altered space.

This Gathering was a deeply satisfying one for me on many levels. The strength and spirit of our Tribe is strong. I now feel support in putting on the Gathering from so many people -- props in particular to Pappy Dog and his buddy Eric the Trainer, Kaju Dog and so many more-- that I did not feel so much sometimes in the past.

For me the day is a blur: watching someone who has struggled fiercely with his chatter finally step through the portal; feeling the vibrations of the altered states produced by the silence of a stick buzzing by your head; and so much more , , ,

Gathering attendees:I'm working on a modest art project/experiment and need any images you have of x-rays (really need these) and/ or close up pictures illustrating injuries received at the Sept 20th gathering. I could use a number of images because I want to develop a collage. If you have anything that I can use I would appreciate it (personally identifiable parts of any images will be edited out). Please email images or give me links to them of you have uploaded them already. Feel free to reply to this post with links, or PM to me. Alternately you can email images directly to me at hmandel{att}learningByGrace[d][ot] oh are gee (email address is reformatted to limit access to discussion board bots).Thanks for your assistance. (note: this is for a personal project, not commercial in any way and with full respect to and compliance with DBMA, Inc. proprietary rights. CD- if you see any conflict please let me know and I'll defer to your preferences)